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Bushism will endure

“There has occasionally been voiced the misimpression that a future administration will take a significantly different attitude towards climate than this administration.” — deputy national security adviser Dan Price

He rules their world

On the Drudge Report homepage right now: Gotta love those scare quotes.

BBC program on Kyoto offsets

The idea behind offsets is that you pay someone else to reduce emissions on your behalf when they can make the reductions more cheaply than you can. The leading offset method use to fight climate chaos is the Clean Development Mechanism. This is an extremely controversial topic, with many (including me) contending it does not work. The BBC has an excellent radio broadcast covering both sides of the controversy. The broadcaster concludes that offsets don't make sense. But he gives leading intelligent pro-CDM experts plenty of time to make their case. It is an example of a program that is, while not the least bit objective, still being fair.

An eco-friendly gift guide for Father’s Day

I will be your father figure, I have had enough of clime. You’re already planning to whip up a delectable dinner for Dad; the lawn is freshly mown; and you’re saving that request for plumbing advice ’til June 16. What else could a father ask for? If you still feel the need to shop, make […]

Lieberman-Warner’s failure this year underdetermines next year’s efforts

I suppose as an enviro-blogger I’m supposed to have something insightful to say about the death of the Lieberman-Warner bill. Yet I find myself strangely apathetic. So much buildup, so much debate, and then … hell, it was just another Republican filibuster. Why did I waste all those brain cells in the first place? It’s […]

Mere $45 trillion needed to tackle climate change, says IEA

A G8-backed goal to halve greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 would take a global clean-technology investment of merely $45 trillion, the International Energy Agency said in a report Friday. That’s about 1.1 percent of the world’s average annual gross domestic product through 2050; more overwhelmingly, it’s also about three times the size of the current U.S. […]

Why mow the grass when you can harvest salad greens?

Lawn grass is the largest irrigated U.S. crop. “Even conservatively,” notes NASA researcher Cristina Milesi, “I estimate there are three times more acres of lawns in the U.S. than irrigated corn.” Wow, that’s a lot of ornamental grass — about 128,000 square kilometers worth, roughly equal in size to the state of Wisconsin. According Milesi, […]

Neve Campbell’s eco-flick won’t air in the U.S.

Neve Campbell. Burn Up is the (totally and completely fictional) story about a clash between Big Oil and Big Green. The Canadian/British miniseries features Party of Five star Neve Campbell as an environmentalist hired to work for an oil company (as a greenwash decoy, of course, though she doesn’t realize it until too late … […]

When the benevolent seed giant declares it’s going to save the world, why be skeptical?

Do you worry about where your food comes from? Are you concerned that farmers might use too many toxic chemicals, or that health and safety agencies of the U.S. government might not be looking out for your best interests?

Well then, you suffer from too much skepticism. You probably need to learn to trust what you are told more often. Maybe you should consider some pharmacological support for your worry problem. I know. My name is Claire and I'm a skeptic.

I thought all you other skeptics out there might like to know that the latest word on our problem comes from a company who knows a lot about food, farming, and chemicals. This week, the CEO of Monsanto Corporation, Hugh Grant, told Public Radio International's Marketplace that he expects people to be skeptical about what Monsanto says but also, given the food problems the world is facing, "skepticism is a commodity the world can't afford right now."

Vermont-sized area of Amazon may be protected

Brazil’s president has unveiled plans to protect a large area of the Amazon rainforest, after weeks of mutterings that the country has insufficient protections in place. The proposal by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would create three protected reserves for a total area the size of Vermont; the plan still has to be approved […]